In the old days, I know that when they built a concrete block basement, the wooden floor joists were just set on top of the block walls, and they would make the top row of block with a solid topped block (no exposed core). Then after the wooden joists were set in place, they would put a thick bead of mortar on the inside, on top of the block wall.
I've lived in several homes built in this manner. I guess they figured the weight of the house would hold it in place, and that mortar bead added to this, as well as keeping air from leaking and insects and rodents from entering.
The problem with that concept is that if a tornado or hurricane hits the area, it dont take much to knock the house off the foundation.
I'm planning to build a small summer cabin. It will be set on a concrete block foundation, either as a crawl space, or possibly a usable basement depending on cost. Since the cabin will be small, that would mean is weighs less, and thus would probably make it blow off the foundation easier. This is not an area that gets hurricanes, but tornados are always a possibility.
My question is what's a better method to attach the house floor to the block walls? On:
- Filling a block's core generally means all the cores below it would need to get filled, and thaT would take a lot of concrete. Unless a wad of newspaper or some insulation is crammed in the blocks in the row below the top one first.
- Using floor joists laid on their narrow edge (such as 2x8's), this anchor would end up with no wood to attach to, unless a 2x8 was laid flat first, and then the floor joists laid on top of that, which is not something I've seen. (Or is there some sort of bracket made for this use?).
Then too, making sure these anchors dont und up directly under a joist might be tricky too, because the location of each joist would have to be measured and marked on the blocks first.
Anyone have any tips?
Please, if you want to tell me to contact a building inspector, or hire a professional, dont even reply. This is a DIY project in a rural area. There wont be any professionals involved, nor any inspections, other than getting a building permit (to keep the local officials happy and wealthy). I already inquired, they said that as long as it's not a full time home, I just need a permit to build, and they need to know the size and type of construction. (so they can raise my property taxes to suit the structure).